CBS Minnesota

January7, 2018

Sen. Amy Klobuchar says the current administration is rolling back protections for seniors living in nursing homes.

In November, the Star Tribune reported 97 percent of allegations of neglect, physical abuse, unexplained serious injury and theft in Minnesota senior facilities were never investigated.

After that, the Minnesota Democrat asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to prevent elder abuse.

Now she says the current administration is taking a step in the wrong direction by rolling back protections for the elderly.

“It really makes me concerned,” Klobuchar said. “It’s one thing to be pragmatic about it, it is another when you have a back log of complaints, an increase in incidents, a doubling of our senior population by 2050, you should be doing more enforcement and not less.”

Klobuchar said she believes Minnesota state officials are taking action, but the federal government should be doing more.